Silent Hill: Breaking Shell
by Dark Closure
Summary: When Donatello and Raphael start having troubles at home Master Splinter sends them off on a trip to relearn how to get along with each other. When their van breaks down in a passing town they're forced to stay and figure out how to escape.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It wasn't hard to get there. Every road almost always lead straight to it. Despite what people say, you don't see the smoke until after you're baffled by the empty streets. The cars are all parked, every one dating back to the fifties, some as "early" as the sixties. The shops still have displays in them with the "latest" fashions that mirrored the age of the cars. The streets have a grime over them, thick with ash and yellowing dust, possibly stained by fog carrying particles, or heck even dust storms will happen on the fly in random cities. Why should Silent Hill be any different?

Donnie adjusted his bag over his shoulder, hugging the worn leather to his side. He's heard of this place, but never could find any research that lead to the actual existence of the coal town that was perpetually on fire. But here it was, right in their path. Him and Raph were to go on some sabbatical to help "team bonding" after the two of them got into a large fight back at home. It was out of nowhere, spurred on by seemingly nothing. But it was enough for Splinter to get an address from April and send them on their way.

The Mechanic moved his scarf up higher over his mouth mor against the cold than the possibility of being seen by anyone. This was a ghost town at its best and despite the fires burning hundreds of feet below them, it was very cold.

"Raph... I don't think we'll find a gas station that'll actually have fuel for the van."

Raphael grunted in reply. He was looking around as if working out if he could prove the genius wrong. As usual though, Donnie appeared to be right.

"I just wish I could see more than five feet in front of me." he waved his hand, trying to hopelessly dispel the thick fog. He rolled his shoulder and looked at his partner. "So what do you wanna do now?"

"Well, since the van is out of gas and it doesn't look like we'll be able to get non-combustible fuel... we'll have to just walk." Donnie felt his skin twitch. He silently hoped that Raphael would agree to just walk through town and go the last seventy miles by foot. After all, if they just carried everything then they could make camp if they got too tired to travel any further. To try and help convince the typical hot head he added, "It's really not that far."

Once again Raphael opted for grunting rather than speech. Sometimes it was just best to agree with his older brother. He just wished this place wasn't so cold. He turned away from Donnie and climbed into the back of the van. "I knew we should have brought my bike. Either one actually. Heck- if we had brought both my Nightwatcher bike and the Shell Cycle we'd be laughing!"

"Laughing at what Raph? Not having supplies because we had to make room for your bikes? Yeah, frostbite and exposure are very funny things. Just like stab wounds and broken bones, just hilarious." Donnie snorted under his breath. He was tired of this, it wasn't just Raph. It was everyone else as well, how they just took advantage of the fact they have a place to live and food to eat. They don't seem to understand where all their supplies come from, how much work it takes to keep them on the mend. Keep them entertained and sacrifice everything just so they could have things that go fast or look really cool.

"Okay, okay! Yesh!" Raph picked up his own duffle bag and took out his shell cell. "Maybe we could just phone the guys to come pick us up. It would be better than fucking walking." He flicked the phone open- no signal. He jumped out of the van and waved it in the air, still trying to get a signal. "Don- your techno-skills are declining." He pulled the phone closer to his face, pressing random buttons to try and get it to work. "I thought this thing was supposed to call from anywhere."

"Two things; Either you're not using it right or there is no service in this area. The shell cells only piggyback on satellite signals where receptors are placed. If there are no receptors here, then we'll get no signal. Despite best efforts even satellite phones have their blank spots." Donnie fished into his own pocket for his phone. Pulling it out he wrinkled his nose. There was something wrong.

"Let me see yours." Before Raph could reply he swiped the shell cell out of his brother's dark colored hand and looked at it. It matched his. "This isn't right..."

"I thought you said that cell have their blan-." Raphael stopped for a moment, looking up. "Did you hear that Donnie?" He dropped the bag in favour of pulling out his sai- his mind switching to ninja-mode.

"Here what?" The mechanic didn't look up from the phones in his hands. He pressed buttons in sequence trying to get down into the core programming. The batteries were almost dead even though they were fully charged. Despite having no programs up something was draining the power quickly. He had to locate the trouble making virus or whatever it was and shut it down or they would be left without contact. It was at this time that something he couldn't explain happened; despite having everything shut down and he was in the actual programming data only, one of the cells started to crackle. A strange foreign noise being carried in with the white noise. He could barely hear it. Lifting it up to his ear he closed his eyes to try and concentrate on what was being transmitted. It might be the source of their problems with their phones. If only he could isolate it; hear it.

The eerie sound of what was unmistakably the music of a fanfare could just be heard under the white noise. It loomed and galumphed as if out of tune- occasionally almost freezing as jarring static overcame the horrid music.

Raphael's eyes darted around. He couldn't see anything but he could hear something. While Donnie was listening to the phone Raph could hear something so faint he almost couldn't hear it at all. It was almost as if he felt it. "A... Carnival...?"

"Maybe... someone was doing some home broadcasting and got signals messed up or a CB is nearby?" Donnie pulled the phone from his ear and closed down both of them. It didn't matter he needed to keep them off or the batteries would drain completely. They would have to get out of range for it to be safe to turn them back on.

He looked over at Raph. "... Edgy much? It's just a carnival broadcast. It just means there are people here. So the sooner we start moving, the better."

Raph wrinkled his snout at Donnie's comment. "Yeah, yeah- whatever." He picked up his duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. He pulled his hood up further and started to pull supplies into his bag- making sure to keep his sais on hand. "Somthin' feels funny 'bout this place." he picked up his MP3 player- he had been using is all the way here as a way to avoid talking to Don. Every time he talked to Don they argued. "You sure it's a good idea to leave the van here?"

"It's not like we have much choice. It ran dry of gas." Don went to the van and pulled out a wrapped up tent and balanced it on his shoulder. He locked the doors as he continued to talk. "We just have to leave it locked and come get it when or if we come across a gas station and get a couple of gas cans."

He looked over at Raph who already had his ear buds in. Sighing heavily he double checked to make sure it was locked up. He brushed by Raph to get his attention so they could start walking. This was going to be a very long, very boring, very unnecessary trip.

tbc...


	2. Chapter 2

Raphael secretly watched Donnie as they had walked. Although his music blared at him he barely listened to it. He wanted to talk to Don- he really did... but talking was never his strong point. Unless you counted arguing.

Arguing was something that had been doing a lot of recently. Ever since that one big one they had which got them into this now-walking-forever-in-fog situation they had still been arguing. Whenever Donnie said anything it was that snide, I m smarter than you tone. It got under Raphael s skin and he couldn t help but snap at him. The best way to avoid it was by not talking at all.

Suddenly the sound of static interrupted his music. Wincing- he yanked out an ear-bud, attempting to turn down the music or skip to the next track or something! He jabbed furiously at the buttons, each press threatening to break the small device as his annoyance gave him strength. Piece of shit!

Don jumped from the sudden outburst. What? What is it? He stepped up to Raphael, his annoyance ebbing away for concern at the way the turtle rubbed at his head trying to recover from the loud sudden sound.

Stupid MP3 player.

What happened?

It just started to play static and that weird carnival music. Raphael continued to rub his head, dumping the device into Donnie s hand. I thought it didn t have a radio in it!

Donatello looked the small machine over. It didn t. There wasn t even bluetooth technology or anything besides a simple sd card. The thing still ran off of AAA batteries. He held up one of the ear buds to his ear and listened. It was just Raph s normal music.

It s... just normal music. He handed it back to Raph. Maybe you bumped the volume or something. He tried for an explanation.

Raphael frowned for a moment, then shook his head. Y-yeah. And maybe I need new headphones. He looked at the little devices- its stracted screen showing which track was playing. It seemed to be fine.

Raph s eyes suddenly shifted focus to the reflections on the screen. His eyes widened and he dropped the device, jumping back from it. He tripped, landing in a sitting position. He continued to push himself backwards with his booted legs for a moment before stopping- panting.

What? Don rushed to his brother s side. Raph you okay? He put his hands to his brother s head to test for a fever. He had been acting strange ever since they came to this place.

Raph tried to pull away. M fine Donnie... His face flushed, trying to look at the genius's worried eyes. He looked around, trying to spot what he had seen in the reflection of his MP3 player s screen. But there was nothing other than fog and abandoned vehicles.

To make sure, Don continued to touch Raph s forehead for a while careful to take his temperature. It wouldn t be hard at all for them to get sick in this kind of cold, they were mostly turtle after all. He put down his pack and pulled out a small bottle of asprin and uncapped it. He shook out two and recapped the bottle. Here, take these just in case.

Distance for the medication was clear on Raphael s face but one look at Donnie s worried expression was enough to make the hot head take the two pills. He popped them into his mouth and swallowed them without water. He then opened his mouth to prove to the older turtle that he had indeed taken the medicine.

Raph pulled down his hood and wiped his forehead. He did indeed feel hot- so maybe he was getting sick like he knew the genius thought. It was a better explanation for what he had seen. He rubbed his face just thinking about it.

As much as I believe the buildings are dilapidated around here... they are better than staying out in this cold. Come on, he offered his hand to Raph. Lets see if there is a place we can crash for the night.

Raphael took his hand and pulled himself up. Anything to get out of this fucking fog. He paced over to the MP3 player and picked it up. He was lucky- it wasn t broken. He placed it into his pocket and turned to Donnie. Which house looks the most stable?

Looks can be deceiving. We ll have to go inside them to see their true conditions. But offhand, I would have to say that house down the way. He pointed down to rather large home that the mailbox barely had had visible writing on it. He squinted from where they were at. It looked like it read Shepherd.

I m sure they won't mind if we crash. Raphael said. He took Donnie s hand, dragging him to the house. He ignored the pricking feeling in his skin and the heat in his face. He let go of Donnie s hand in favour of turning the door handle. However it was locked.

What the fuck... Raphael looked down. There was something laying on the porch, a small box with a little picture puzzle. He picked it up and tossed it to Don.

Don looked at his brother a little confused. Why would Raph just randomly toss him a puzzle box that he found on the ground? However the question was quickly forgotten when he shook it and heard something slide around inside. Natural curiosity overtook and his fingers slid over all the time aged tiles. It didn t take him long to place it into proper order and hear a click. Slipping the lid open he turned the box over and dropped a key into his hand. It wasn t a typical key... well, nothing modern at least. It was old and rusted, just like everything else in this place.

He shared a look with his brother, unsure as to if they should try it in the lock or not. Who stored their house key in a child s puzzle and leave it in plain sight? well... what s the likelihood that it will work? Stepping around Raph, Donnie inserted the key and gave it a hard twist. Surprisingly the bolt slid with ease. Not sure what to do he knocked on the door while cracking it open. Hello? he called out into the darkness. We found your key and our van ran out of gas. Is-Is anyone here?

There was silence for a while before Raphael pushed his way inside. No one s here Donnie. No one s fucking anywhere. despite what he said, Raph s fingers rested on his sai hilts. Let s just.. find a room and stay in it. I don t feel like exploring more than we have ta. He rubbed his neck. He couldn t shake a weird feeling he was getting. He pulled Donnie inside and shut the door.

The place was surprisingly well built. There was a slight smell of mildew, the wallpaper and paint was aged and peeling, the varnish on the wood railing of the stairs was chipped but... other than that everything was in surprisingly good condition. It was... like everyone up and left...

Croatoan. Don mumbled feeling a chill skitter over his shell like a spider with long hairy legs.

Raphael looked at Donnie. He could tell his other brother was as unsettled as he was. They stood in the hallway for what seemed like an eternity before Raph coughed suddenly, pulling open his hoodie as he pressed his shell against the wall. He hadn t realised how cold he had truly been.

You okay? Don asked in concern. We should... do like you said, find a room and settle down.

Raphael nodded, swallowing. Maybe the living room or something. There has to be some sofas in this place we could use. He pulled his duffle bag more onto his shoulder, walking more into the house. It was a lot bigger than he was expecting.

It didn t take them long to find the livingroom. There were two sofas and paper all over the floor and tables- even stuck onto the wall. A bucket was placed in the middle of the table- letting water drip into it from a crack in the ceiling. The TV lit the room in eerie static.

Donnie shuffled some of the paper around with his feet, all too faded to really make out the print. He went over to the bucket to smell for stagnant water that may hold any sort of bacteria that could spread disease to them while they slept. It was... rather clean water. Why shouldn t it be? Everything else is just as weird. He thought. He put down his bag on the coffee table and dropped the tent next to a sofa. Going through his bag he dug out a blanket and threw it over a sofa and patted it. Not the cleanest but it ll do. Lay down Raph, lets get some rest.

Raph grumbled in reply, dropping his bag near the table. He walked slowly to the sofa-

The he stopped.

His head was turned to the TV. For a second he thought he had seen something flash up on the screen. He wrinkled his snout and walked over to it and tried to turn the old dial off. Nothing happened.

Raphael grumbled, kneeling by the thing to try and find the plug.

Raph, leave it. I ll deal with that, you lay down. The older turtle grabbed his brother s arm and pulled him off of the floor. He knelt down where his brother was at and reached back. Finding the cord he gave it a hard jerk unplugging it from the wall sending the room into a strange, stifling silence. He looked over his shoulder and gave a small smile, At least it ll be quiet.

Thanks Don. Raph mumbled quietly. He lay down on the sofa, shifting till he felt comfortable enough to sleep. His soft snores soon filled the silence.

Donatello rested back against the wall and looked up at the ceiling, yeah. was all he could say. He didn t know how to deal with this situation. With Raph and how everything was turning inside out. He was tired... tired of working all the time and getting nothing for it besides a thanks Don and perhaps a sorry I broke it . There were other reasons that he was exhausted but... he couldn t bring himself to pull it out of the back of his mind. He didn t want to address it, didn t want to look at it; bother with it. It would have been better if nothing had happened at all... right?

He closed his eyes and was soon asleep without realizing he had dozed off at all. 


End file.
